It's unbelievable how quickly time flies. Only a few short weeks ago, I was in "forest-ifying" the classroom with a bit of décor. I had tentative class lists in my mailbox and many of the names on those pages were only random combinations of letters to me. Since then, I have had the pleasure of meeting two wonderfully energetic groups of four and five-year-olds. The names on the lists have magically transformed into living, breathing children who have such unique personalities and talents - so much fresh potential to offer the world. I feel very privileged to be their teacher!
I am imperfect, as you might have already guessed. ;) In a little over two weeks' time, I have already made some notable mistakes as a teacher. I want to take this opportunity to apologize for those little organizational fumbles that have translated into bussing mix-ups and lunch pails left in the "perdu et trouvé" box. :S I hope that you can forgive me for my shortcomings. I promise that I am trying my best, and I am always open and interested in hearing your words of wisdom about how to best deal with your children. After all, you know them best! To all of the Teacher/parents out there... I give you credit, and I honestly don't know how you do it. :) If you have any professional advice to offer, that would be much appreciated as well.
ENOUGH ABOUT ME!!!!! I'd love to give you a little synopsis of what's been happening in our classroom over the past few days! Here it comes...
1. As your child might have informed you, yes, we have been playing! The new Full-Day Early Learning Kindergarten curriculum states that "there is a strong link between play and learning for young children, especially in the areas of problem-solving, language acquisition, literacy, numeracy, and social, physical and emotional skills. Young children actively explore their environment and the world around them through a process of learning-based play. When children are manipulating objects, acting out roles, or experimenting with various materials, they are engaged in learning through play. Play, therefore, has a legitimate and important role in early learning and can be used to further children's learning in all areas of the Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten program. It is so important that the United Nations has recognized it as a specific right for all children" (p.13).
So far, we have engaged in both "free choice" and more structured "centre-based" play. It is really interesting to watch the children as they play, and walking around the room reveals some remarkable creativity and insight being exercised. Yesterday, I was amazed at how the students DECIDED BY THEMSELVES to work as a large group to create a complicated structure from math straws. I enjoy listening to what is going on at the puppet theatre centre as well as the "beauty salon" and house centre areas. The conversations that happen there are often as informed as they are adorable. :)
2. We have been reading together. As a class, we are beginning to master a "choral reading" of a predictable big book entitled "Regarde, par la fenêtre!" We frequently re-visit this story following the first nutritional break, as I find it to be a very good lead-in to our weather and calendar activities. The children love to suggest answers to the question "quel temps fait-il?" and to see if their "guesses" match those that are illustrated on the pages that follow it.
I have also read many stories to the class over the past few weeks. A few of these titles include: "Le premier jour d'école," "David va a l'école,""Moi, je m'aime," "Les amis," and "The Kissing Hand." I try not to read stories in isolation, but rather to link them to something that is meaningful to the students, such as a discussion about their feelings toward starting school, or a craft that helps them to express themselves. Today (with the Tuesday/Thursday class) we went on a little "around the school scavenger hunt" based on "The Kissing Hand." The kids really seemed to enjoy finding the clues that were written by Chester (who is the main character of the story). I was very impressed by how well they managed to stay in line, listen to the clues read in French and then translated into English, and embark on a mission to find the treasure (a sticker and a starburst candy for each child).
3. We have been creating works of Art. I am trying to veer away from the more traditional "cookie cutter" style of crafting that has been popular for Kindergarten in the past. I provide the students with paints and different coloured paper (and smocks! Honestly, I DO make sure that they are wearing them, in spite of the fact that some still end up wearing the paint!) and "let them go," so to speak. It is always very interesting and inspiring to see what they will come up with. Some of the kids really want to take their work home, so I usually permit this. Otherwise, if I find art around the classroom, I try to hang it up somewhere visible. Right now there are some paintings along the top wall of our class and on the bulletin board directly outside of our classroom.
Many of the students have created self-portraits that include their names. Some of the JKs still need to finish this task, but all of the completed drawings look great!
During the first week of school, a number of the kids painted pictures of apples. These actually ended up on our school's display at the Fergus Fall Fair! Congratulations! :) Now that the display has been returned to us, I plan to take pictures of each student and have them glue them onto the apple that they have painted. We'll then hang the apples from one of the "trees" in our classroom for some nice autumn ambiance that connects to a subtle theme of "All About Me" that I have been trying to work in throughout September.
4. We count and have been exploring some math bins. Basically whenever the students have to get into line, we count the number of people present together in French. We also practice counting through calendar activities, and I have been introducing the very basics of writing numbers through the calendar as well, by modelling how to write the date, and then choosing a volunteer to help me to write it. Often, we will count and jump for all of the numbers that we see on the calendar. I have also started a paper chain for the 100 days of school. I am hoping to use this to teach the students how to count by 10s. We have 12 links on our paper chain so far - 10 orange and 2 red.
At our Open House we had a "Name the Class Fish" contest. We are going to use all of the names that were gathered on this night to create a tally chart. The students will then get to vote for the name that they prefer. (Sorry about the delay - things have been very busy!). Additionally, we will be talking briefly about estimating using the "gummy bear guess" game that took place at Open House. I will be introducing some very simple graphs over the next few days as well.
Some of the most popular math centres thus far include: "cookies" - these are plastic "Oreo-type" cookies that you can separate by colour and stack, sort, and match in a number of different ways; building cubes and straws; sequencing puzzle activities; and number-writing practice using cards that feature pictures to count on one side and the number written in figure-form, French, and English on the reverse side. We will soon begin working on our first Math concept - sorting.
5. Mme Murray has been helping us to learn more French using a "gestures-based" approach (AIM). Ask your child if s/he can introduce him or herself using the actions for "je m'appelle!"
6. We have been exploring nature and computers by collecting items that we find outside for the "table des sciences," and by signing in and playing French literacy games at "l'ordinateur." If you would like to explore some of the games that are available to us at school, visit: www.poissonrouge.com
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